Prog Rock Saturday: Moving Waves

Focus - "Moving Waves" (1971) - Sire

Hallo Vrienden,

Its another Summer Saturday which means the drinks are flowing and we're rocking out to the second release by the severely under-appreciated Dutch progressive band, Focus!

Anchored by what would become their signature, the incredible, "Hocus Pocus", Moving Waves (released in Europe as Focus II) is a classic in the annals of Dutch progressive rock!

And speaking of anals, how good is the song "Hocus Pocus"?  Wow!  Its so good that if I worked out it would be my go-to workout song!  Epic! Operatic! With fantastic riffage on par with the best of Deep Purple or Black Sabbath and probably the greatest vocals on a rock & roll song without any lyrics! (Courtesy of frontman, Thijs van Leer, who also plays flute and all the keyboards on the record!)

Its six & half minutes of ball's out prog fucking rock!  

Things calm down quite a bit on "Le Clochard" (French for tramp or beggar), guitarist Jan Akkerman's Spanish-guitar influenced instrumental accompanied by an ambient mellotron.

Akkerman also wrote the next track, "Janis" which is a Renaissance-y piece highlighting van Leer's multitracked flute playing.   Very mellow.  Reminiscent of Greg Lake-era King Crimson or Pink Floyd around the time of Atom Heart Mother.


"Moving Waves" is a three-minute piano solo piece by van Leer who sings the lines of a poem written by musician, philosopher & spiritualist Inayat Khan-- who founded London's Sufi Order of the West in 1914.

Side One closes out with the jazz-influenced instrumental, "Focus II" which starts out relatively quiet and pastoral and builds to tricky, ever-changing jazz time signatures not unlike some of sounds Zappa was making around this time!

In true prog fashion, Side Two is entirely dedicated to one song, "Eruption"-- a 23 minute instrumental piece which re-tells the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice.  Its a little weird and meandering but when you're in the right state of mind, it sounds pretty fucking awesome. 

Here again, there's lots of changing parts, time signatures, instruments, etc.  At times it sounds like the jazz-fusiony stuff of Zappa or King Crimson; at others, it sounds like the melodic and cerebral stuff of early Pink Floyd.  There's even some abrasive synth stuff in there that recalls some early Genesis or Tarkus-era ELP.

This record is a bit more refined, instrumental and a lot less trippy than their debut record (review here.)  Moving Waves, aka Focus II, is the sound of a band growing up, mastering their instruments, feeling their oats and using the studio as an additional instrument! 

Proost!

RATING: 4.0 moving waves the wind has left you and you are still in commotion out of 5

Prog Rock Saturday: In and Out of Focus

Focus - "In and Out of Focus" (1973) - Sire Records

Hello Friends,

Or rather, Hallo Vrienden...

We've got some sweet-sweet prog rock courtesy of the Dutch on the turntable tonight!

Formed in 1969 by singer, composer, organist & flautist-extraordinaire, Thijs van Leer, Focus would release seven excellent prog rock records throughout the Seventies.  Their 1970 debut LP, Focus Play Focus, would be re-released by Seymour Stein of Sire Records in 1973 under the name In and Out of Focus.

And this is a pretty fantastic debut!  We hear a lot of Meddle-era Pink Floyd-style arrangements with some early Genesis and King Crimson thrown in for good measure.   

The album opens with the very Floyd-ish instrumental, "Focus"-- a melodic and classically-influenced, nine minute overture featuring some great guitar work (courtesy of Jan Akkerman) and culminating in a spazzy organ/flute crescendo. As our Dutch friends might say, Ja!  

Menacing organ chords open the next, apocalyptic-themed song, "Why Dream" which sounds like something that could be on an early version of Pink Floyd's Animals.  With lyrics like "Why Dream about a future?  / Now is the present as bad as the present can be! / Why Dream about a future? / The light is dark and darkness is all you can see" all I keep thinking is, Hey didn't I write that in my journal back in high school?

Now with lyrics and music like this, you might be wondering, are these dudes into drugs?  Well, I think our questions are answered on Side One's closing number, the trippy and psychedelic, "Happy Nightmares (Mescaline)".  I'm booking my flight Amsterdam in the morning!  Just say no, kids!



Side Two begins with the court jestery instrumental "Anonymus" which-- mostly because of the prominent flute-- is reminiscent of early Jethro Tull.

Next up is "Black Beauty", but don't let the title fool you, this song IS about forbidden interracial love!  Didn't realize this sort of thing happened in the Netherlands.

The album ends with a reprise of the first song, "Focus", but this time with vocals!  

And once again, we've come full circle on another prog rock Saturday.  The drinks are still flowing, the mosquitos are biting and the neighbors are yelling to keep it down!   Proost!

RATING: 4.5 Clocks of Life Ticking Loud out of 5